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Why do the poor do badly in school?

Why do the poor do badly in school?


  • Total voters
    41
:lol: Get it while you can. :2razz:

I just turned 64....


Beatles Lyrics:

When I get older losing my hair
many years from now
will you still be sending me a valentine
birthday greeting, bottle of wine
If I'd been out till quarter to three
would you lock the door
Will you still need me
Will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

You'll be older too
And if you say the word
I could stay with you

I could be handy mending a fuse
when your light have gone
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings, go for a ride
Doing the garden, digging the weeds
Who could ask for more
Will you still need me
Will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

Every summer we can rent a cottage on the
Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera, Chuck, and Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line
stating point of view
indicate precisely what you mean to say
yours sincerely wasting away
Give me your answer fill in a form
mine forever more
Will you still need me
Will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four
 
Other by a longshot.
Underachievement is a mental state. The parents of these underachievers are themselves underachievers. It has nothing to do with ability or class structure. It has to do with a culture of mistrust of education being worth a personal investment. The idea is ingrained in these people that you don't need anything more from school than being able to count your money and read traffic signs.
It's just plain lack of interest or caring about it. I see it every day living in the poor part of town. I grew up here and I'm bound and determined to change this culture here in the Vestal section of south Knoxville.
 
The build up to how stuff works is the best. :2razz:

Physics is under taught in high school....
physics is critical for engineers and scientists, and to be a really good technician you should at least have a good understanding of physics.
 
Physics is under taught in high school....
physics is critical for engineers and scientists, and to be a really good technician you should at least have a good understanding of physics.

I've been wanting this for a while, haven't justified getting it yet.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Guide-Home-Chemistry-Experiments/dp/0596514921/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272858987&sr=1-16]Amazon.com: Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture (DIY Science) (9780596514921): Barbara Fritchman Thompson: Books[/ame]

I'm pretty decent with amateur physics.
Thinking about getting another book dealing with micro engine propulsion.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/PVC-Rocket-Engine-do-yourself/dp/160402352X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272859073&sr=1-2]Amazon.com: PVC Rocket Engine: A do-it-yourself guide for building a K450 PVC plastic rocket engine. (9781604023527): Dan Pollino: Books[/ame]
 
Physics is under taught in high school....
physics is critical for engineers and scientists, and to be a really good technician you should at least have a good understanding of physics.

That is really the nail on the head. They'd rather teach envirowhackdaddyism than real physics.
 
I believe that I am quite capable of figuring that out for myself and that my insights are no better or worse than anyone else's. However, the reason I say that is because in the end, its my responsibility.

I find it's usually enlightening to read the views of others that I have little in common with. It tends to keep me questioning my own views, and has helped me grow alot on a personal level. It's my responsibility to form my own views and live up to them, but it's also my responsibility to not get too firmly entrenched in my own thoughts and opinions.
 
For those interested in this topic, I'd recommend a book entitled Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools, by Jonathan Kozol.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Inequalities-Children-Americas-Schools/dp/0060974990]Amazon.com: Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools (9780060974992): Jonathan Kozol: Books[/ame]

This well-researched scholarly treatise should clear up any and all questions about why the poor do badly in school.
 
To be honest most of the fun science carries a ton of potential for lawsuits.
Schools can't handle that.

especially chemistry lab.....:2razz:

BUT, lab is NOT necessary....the Navy Nuclear Power school teaches chemistry, physics, etc. and it is learned without lab work...
 
especially chemistry lab.....:2razz:

BUT, lab is NOT necessary....the Navy Nuclear Power school teaches chemistry, physics, etc. and it is learned without lab work...

Bleh, that is the most FUN part of it.

Synthesizing regents, making compounds and all the other stuff the reinforces theory.
I have been planning for some time to get a set of glass ware so my son and I can work on it together.

He seems more interested in biology so we may just get bacteria to grow. :twisted:
 
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A guy I went to college with grew up in one of our housing projects. They are not pretty places and everybody who lives there usually drops out of school to become a drug dealer. OK, but Mike was really very good in school. I guess you could call him a bit of a nerd but he was funny and fun to talk with. We ate lunch together with some other friends every day after morning classes.

I should have asked him how he got to be so smart growing up in the projects but I never did. I just wondered about it. My guess would be that he had parents who were strict about him doing well.
 
A guy I went to college with grew up in one of our housing projects. They are not pretty places and everybody who lives there usually drops out of school to become a drug dealer. OK, but Mike was really very good in school. I guess you could call him a bit of a nerd but he was funny and fun to talk with. We ate lunch together with some other friends every day after morning classes.

I should have asked him how he got to be so smart growing up in the projects but I never did. I just wondered about it. My guess would be that he had parents who were strict about him doing well.

I had a buddy that grew up in one of Atlanta's worst projects.
His family were Jehovah's Witnesses, they were not involved at all with the neighborhood, they just lived their.
He turned out great, going to college and all that.
 
Some good points about the individuals from the government projects doing well. It sounds like parental involvement and expectations are very important. I suspect this to be the case in the great majority of cases being discussed in this thread. I grew up poor compared to many in society. My parents expected us to work hard and do the best we could in school. They were also very involved in our lives, and they were great role models. This is what I give credit to for my abilities and work ethic. It's not about money, but about family culture.
 
I'll ask my brother-in-law about it tonight. He is the first one from his family to go to college and he worked his way through a Masters program in Aeronautical Engineering. Very smart guy.

I learned some interesting things tonight. My brother-in-law, Joe, grew up on Staten Island and was a member of a gang. They didn't do much crime, he said, but were more into hanging out in the neighborhood and going to clubs to hear death metal! :)

He got zero support from his mother toward school and his father he saw rarely, and got little support, since they were divorced. His grandparents showed interest and support and in the early years they lived together, so it was a daily thing then, but in junior high they moved and he saw them only once a week.

He was a C student in high school. He was very short on math, having only taken the minimum up to Algebra 2. He had bad teachers. However, he had decided he wanted to be an inventor and needed to go to college to get a degree. He wanted this badly. When he spoke with his guidance counselor and told him he wanted to go to college, his guidance counselor encouraged him, even with "C"s. When Joe told him he wanted to go for Engineering, his counselor laughed in his face!

Joe went on to engineering at City College of New York, Staten Island. His gang members didn't give him any ****, but actually started college the year after. Many didn't make it but several got business degrees. Years later, when married to my sister, Joe entered the Masters program in Aerospace Engineering and completed it.

Now Joe is a High School teacher in Fairfax County, VA. He is the technology instructor and teaches drafting, general engineering, engineering design and several other courses. He won the State Teachers Award for Engineering/Technology Program, which he has built from the ground up.

His school is in a heavy Hispanic neighborhood and he has many Hispanic students at the school, although not many take his classes. Still, he has many under-performers. The single biggest difference in students performance is the involvement of parents.

His good students have parents that monitor their homework and assignments. They show up at teacher conferences to see how their kids are doing. They punish their kids for misbehaving.

His bad students have uninvolved parents. They don't go to teacher conferences. When Joe calls them to discuss the students performance, he gets a perfunctory phone call. Once they hung up on him. The parents work late and do not monitor progress. They do not punish. They don't care.

He does have kids that struggle with material, but many times this is not due to lack of intelligence, but lack of preparation from other classes - and bad study habits if any at all.

The Hispanic kids are the worst.
 
What about the ugly man who will never know the loving touch of a beautiful woman?

Send him my way, I'm not fussy, and I quite enjoy charity work.


Fair is just a stupid ass word. Life isn't fair and society isn't fair.

Some societies are fairer, more equitable than others. Get over it. No society gets top marks. Nobody here has claimed that.
The US rocks, though...

Highly subjective opinion.
 
Yea, as long as you don't have to get off your ass to actually do anything, everything is just peachy.

Leave it all to the voluntary acts of altruism and very little will get done.
When, it comes to health, education and social services, the less state provision the greater the inequality. Fact.
 
Nothing wrong with being grateful for what you have, and wanting others to have the same....or helping the unfortunate...
Our little town just had a fund raiser to help a single mom, a teacher, with lukemia. Haven't heard yet how much was raised, but it was a lot. Most people are generous to those who get smacked with truly bad luck.
Now, if she had been a crack abuser, it would have been a waste of time to do a fund raiser for her. Nobody would have shown up....


That somebody with lukaemia needs charity says a lot about the society she's living in. And not everybody has the good fortune to live in such generous communities. And yes, those who've used drugs for whatever reasons will be pre-judged, even by some of the generous.
 
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We recently talked about some of this in another thread. I am curious what others think are the driving factors for why the poor, both urban and rural, do so poorly in school.

In a word:

Parents.

Weak parents create ignorant kids.

If the parents want their kid to learn, they don't need the school.

If the parents don't make the kid study, they're wasting time in class.
 
That somebody with lukaemia needs charity says a lot about the society she's living in. And not everybody has the good fortune to live in such generous communities. And yes, those who've used drugs for whatever reasons will be pre-judged, even by some of the generous.

No insurance covers everything...especially those with compromised immune systems or mobility issues.

There are no "reasons" to use illicit drugs, only excuses...
 
Send him my way, I'm not fussy, and I quite enjoy charity work.

I'll get there as quickly as possible.

Some societies are fairer, more equitable than others. Get over it. No society gets top marks. Nobody here has claimed that.

Highly subjective opinion.

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What were you saying about fairness?

Leave it all to the voluntary acts of altruism and very little will get done.

Speaks to the principles and resolve of your type, doesn't it? You all talk such a big game, sound so compassionate, but your actions fall well short of your rhetoric. How tragic...

When, it comes to health, education and social services, the less state provision the greater the inequality. Fact.

When it comes to health, education, and social services, the more Federal intervention, the less individual liberty there is. Also fact.
 
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